Owners allegedly bribed DOB to ignore violations; other allegedly filed plans with forged architect’s signature. In June 2006, the Department of Investigation arrested three Brooklyn property owners for allegedly bribing a Buildings inspector. After an inspector issued a citation and a stop-work order for work at 245 Exeter Street in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, David Safir, the lot’s owner, allegedly offered $3,000 to the Buildings inspector at a follow-up inspection, asking that no additional violations be … <Read More>
Search Results for: Manhattan and Brooklyn
New homeless housing approved for E. Houston site
- Former Boys’ Club, Milliken Clubhouse, will be demolished to make room for the Common Ground homeless housing facility. Photo: Shane Tattan.
Twelve-story facility will house 263 former homeless and provide on-site supportive services. On June 29, 2006, HPD and Common Ground, a not-for-profit that provides housing services for the homeless, obtained City Council approval for a 12-story housing facility to be located on East Houston at Pitt Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The site … <Read More>
Legalization of single-family oversized home denied
Owner claimed that structure was enlargement and not new construction. Michael Reznikov received permits from Buildings in 2002 to make interior improvements and apply a masonry veneer to the exterior of his two-story home at 229 Coleridge Street in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. A 2004 Buildings’ inspection revealed that Reznikov had instead increased the height of his home and significantly extended it into the rear yard thereby violating limits on bulk. Buildings issued a stop-work order.… <Read More>
Council nixes designation of Cass Gilbert warehouse
Council overrode mayor’s veto, claiming Cass Gilbert-designed building is unworthy of designation. On December 5, 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed the City Council’s vote rejecting the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn warehouse. The Council gathered sufficient votes on December 8th to override the mayor, calling the building simply unworthy.
Landmarks had unanimously designated the Austin Nichols & Co. Warehouse building in September 2005 over the objection of the owner and Council Member … <Read More>
Smith, Gray & Co.Building
Rare, cast-iron building is significantly intact. On June 7, 2005, Landmarks designated the Smith, Gray and Company Building, located at 103 Broadway between Bedford Avenue and Berry Street in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section. Constructed in 1870, the building opened as a retail store for Brooklyn’s largest manufacturer of ready-made clothing in the late 19th Century. The five-story building, designed by Brooklyn architect, William H. Gaylor, features a cast iron facade with tiered upper stories and segmental-arched … <Read More>
Sanitation’s four marine transfer stations approved
Council unable to override Mayor’s veto. The proposed sites of three marine waste transfer stations were approved after the City Council failed to get sufficient votes to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto.
The Department of Sanitation had sought separate site selection approvals through ULURP applications to construct four new marine transfer stations. The four transfer stations were a component of Mayor Bloomberg’s 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan, which at the time of the applications was … <Read More>